Thanks to the starting eleven returnee Victor Boniface, Bayer Leverkusen has increased the pressure on Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title race. The double winner prevailed on Friday evening with 3: 1 (1: 1) against relegation candidate VfL Bochum and shortened the gap to the league leaders to three points-but the Munich can hits the home game against FC St. Pauli on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky).
Aleix Garcia (20th) initially gave the master 1-0, Felix Passlack (25th) compensated for VfL. Then Boniface (60th), who was back in the initial formation for the first time since February 8, achieved 2-1 for Bayer before Amine Adli (87th) increased in the final phase. After the crash end in the Champions League against Bayern, the Leverkuseners are back on track with the second victory. The Bochumers, on the other hand, get stuck in the table cellar and could slide on a direct relegation zone on Saturday.
Bayer coach Xabi Alonso, who had left his future in Leverkusen beyond the summer on Thursday, had declared the game against the relegation candidate as “super important” with a view to the Bundesliga end sprint. Now it is “the moment when everything can decide. We want to make as much pressure as possible.”
For the first time this season, Boniface and Schick are allowed to storm together from the start
For this, he offered his strikers Patrik Schick and Boniface together in the starting eleven for the first time this season. And the Leverkuseners immediately searched the way forward: Jeremie Frimpong (9th) had the first chance of the game. On the other hand, guests demanded penalty (10th) after Passlack had fallen in the penalty area after contact with Boniface – but referee Sven Jablonski rightly let them play. The Werkself then rewarded itself for a dominant initial phase: Garcia was not attacked 20 meters in front of the goal and hit the right upper corner.
The Bochumers were mainly busy with defensive work, but then struck out of nowhere – also thanks to a captailed mistake from Granit Xhaka: the Swiss headed the ball unintentionally into the run of Gerrit Holtmann, who still failed on the strongly reacting Lukas Hradecky; Passlack put the margin worth seeing in the far corner.
Bayer then tried to check the game, but dangerous offensive campaigns failed to materialize until the break. After the change of sides, Boniface failed from an acute angle to Timo Horn (46.). The guests did not hide, Matus Bero (53.) graduated too centrally. Boniface did better on the other side: The Nigerian only had to insert after Piero Hincapié exemplary a free kick from Garcia. Frimpong (78th) missed the decision that a second goal from Boniface was not given due to an offside position (80th). Shortly afterwards, Adli scored for the calming 3: 1.